There was just the slightest sense of seasonal change in the air as we met for our group run last night in Wandsworth. Maybe the back to school feeling was because the summer heat wave seems to be behind us, or perhaps it was because we were heading back to Sacred Heart for the first time in a while for our evening's task.

We started off the session with our usual warm up, and this week we tried to think of movie stars with whom we shared our initials. Among us last night were Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson and Patrick Swayze!

We ran down to the school and had a bit of an adventure trying to find the right entrance. Luckily Jared the Head came to rescue us and explain the jobs for the evening.

There were two main tasks - sanding and undercoating the planters, and dismantling the one that was in a state of disrepair. We split into teams and got started. It didn't take long for us to finish taking off the flaking wood and start getting the paint on. Meanwhile the wreckage team were busy breaking the wooden structure to bits and transporting the wood and its contents across the playground.

Jobs done, we waved goodbye to the school and headed next door to the park to do a mobility and strengthening session. We knocked out lots of different moves aimed at stretching and conditioning our muscles before running back - just in time as the heavens unexpectedly opened! Great job tonight everybody.

Next Monday is a bank holiday - we'll still be having a session but it will be earlier int he day so that you can make the most of your day off! Sign up here for all the details.

On Saturday there will be a community mission to help out at our GG garden with an optional 5km together beforehand - the details of which will be in our whatsapp group so if you haven't been added and would like to be then let me know.

Breaking news!

Last night, not only did we turn a whole eight years old, our group session pushed us over the 10 000 good deed mark! What an amazing way to celebrate.

And celebrate we did! On the hottest day of the year, a huge 21 of us met to do good and get fit on the anniversary of our very first group run. It seemed right that we should be going to our own GoodGym garden, a space where we've been growing fruit and veg to donate to the kids program at the theatre.

So after a warm up where we did, you guessed it, 8 reps of various exercises, we went round the group and said what we wanted to do when we grew up when we were 8 years old. Answers ranged from footballer, to two dentists and even Xena Warrier princess!

We set off for the garden, and were delighted to find that there were loads of crops ready to be harvested, including potatoes and some delicious looking kale. We also collected loads of the fallen cooking apples, weeded, staked and strung up our runner beans (appropriate for us!).

The produce we grow will be used to donate to the children's sessions at the theatre, which is run as a charity, and to other community food organisations. We are also repurposing what would otherwise be underused land and increasing biodiversity, so it's a win-win-win situation!

Job done we headed over to the common to play some very silly but hopefully fun ball based fitness games. We started off with human hungry hippos, before testing our squat and reflex skills before having a plank off whilst balancing the balls on our backs. There were some interesting tactics on display and luckily we had the VAR courtesy of Paul to go back and watch game play. Shout out to Kevin and Jordan for collecting the most, with Hugo and Suresh in a close second! In the plank off it came down to six of the strongest cores - well done Catherine, Beth, Hugo, Elif, Sophie and Jasmin!

After all that fun and hard work, it was time to head back to the Omnibus bar for some drinks, chats and incredible food. Everybody outdid themselves with the goodies, but it was Catherine's masterpiece of a cake that had us all talking. It was an amazing creation, and what made it more delicious was that is was baked using blackberries forged from Wandsworth common - what could be more GoodGym than that!

We had a wonderful speech from Jordan, who put what GG means to us all into words better than I could hope to here. So to echo him, there are so many memories we've made over the past 8 years. There have been lots of new faces and we love that our group is welcoming and inclusive. We have achieved so much together and made some beautiful friendships. So here's to the next 8 - and beyond.

Apparently 8 years is a bronze wedding anniversary, but I think every single one of you deserves a gold medal!

Next week we'll be back for more doing good and getting active, when we'll be painting playground planters. Hope to see you there!

If only the skies had been as blue as the paint job we did last night!

We started off the evening dry as a bone, and even though the gathering clouds were ominous, we were looking forward to an inside task. There may have been a little bit of disappointment for some in the air after the football the night before but we were cheered up with a flying visit from a friend - great to have you back for a session Jack!

The theme of the evening was positivity (especially given the prospect of our margs and margs social later on that evening), so after our warm up we each told the group something that gives us a little lift. Answers included sugar, gin, ringing a friend, yoga, coffee and entering a race - which I think is a very good range!

We set off for the ROSE clubroom, a space which is the home to lots of important resources for local people, including free workshops, classes and meals, a community engagement group, local clean ups sessions and events for children.

When we arrived we found the place already set up and ready to go, and we were delighted to see that rather than refreshing white walls with more white paint as we usually do, we had a major colour transformation ahead of us. Grabbing our brushes, masking tape and rollers, we set about changing the colour scheme from a browny purple to a fabulous bright blue!

During the course of the evening there was plenty of Changing Rooms v 30 Minute Makeover chat, remembering Smiley Carol and all the transformations that didn't quite go to plan! Luckily the new colour at the community centre was universally approved of, and we managed to successfully get the first coat on relatively quickly. We were on a roll(er)! We'll be back in a couple of weeks to do the other sections of wall.

We were just having our group photo taken and finishing up the last of the clearing up when the skies darkened even more and there came the sound of thunder rumbling. The next thing we knew the heavens had opened. We stood under cover for a few minutes discussing what to do, but it was showing no signs of stopping. There was nothing for it but to bite the bullet and head into the storm. The rain spurred us on to a nice fast run back to base and we were back in record time. Or perhaps it was the prospect of margarita pizzas and cocktails at a local bar? Who knows!

Next week we're back at a local community garden which is being reopened to the public after being shut since lockdown. It would be great to see you there!

We've also started weekly Sunday morning sessions helping out with the junior parkrun in Battersea Park. It's a really great event helping get young people active, so if you'd like to join in the fun then please sign up here.

It's not often we skip the fitness session in Wandsworth, but after a monster task shifting planks of wood across an estate, we decided we'd worked hard enough!

The hard graft was all in a good cause though. A local food waste and community charity had been donated a huge amount of wood. Local leader Hadas has big plans to transform the planks into raised beds to create an accessible community garden in the area. The trouble is they had been left somewhere that was blocking the pavement and people had started dumping stuff in the storage area. It needed to be moved as a priority. Enter GoodGym!

We had a few things to tick off before we started. First was our warm up and a weekly quiz question where we guessed how many balls are used at Wimbledon every year (54 250 in case you're wondering!).

We were also really happy to welcome Elif to her very first session - give her a huge cheer - and Shiv to his first visit at Wandsworth. Great to have you both join us!

We also reminded ourselves of a couple of fun sessions coming up. On Saturday a group of us are doing Clapham Parkrun, followed by a coffee, and then a quick session at the GoodGym garden. Come and do any or all of it - you can find all the details here] (https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/goodgym-wandsworth-x-great-get-together-garden-morning-coffee). Next Monday following the group run we're going to have a special one off social trying out a local bar's offer of £6 Margs and pizzas. What a way to start the week - come and celebrate with us!

After a nice quick run down to Doddington we found Hadas already dismantling the structure and hopped straight into the job at hand. We transported hundreds of bits of wood back and forth. It was the first step in an ambitious plan to build a new garden for everybody to use. There is a wonderful community space that was built on top of a unused car park just the round the corner, and we go every month to help out. However, it is only accessible by a flight of stairs, so it's great to be involved in a project that is convenient for everybody.

After almost an hour of heavy lifting, we had one more challenge. First to see how many GGers it took to shift two massive planters, and secondly to see how many GGers we could fit into said planters! Answers in the photos...

I am just confirming the task for next week, so watch this space, but as always it will start at the same time from BAC before running to a local organisation. Hope to see you there!